Factors Affecting the Training of Basic Life Support for School Children

Objective: To rescue people who have cardiac arrest in communities, Children could contribute to saving lives if they sufficiently understood BLS. We developed a BLS course for children and investigated its effects and the factors that influenced their performance. Design: The BLS course was developed in accordance with the guideline of the American Heart Association and Resuscitation Council of Asia for children aged 6-12 years. After the teaching session, their BLS performance data was recorded using SimPad®. Children's physical and academic status, knowledge test scores, and pertinent associations were analyzed. Results: Depth of chest compression showed statistically significant correlations with children's body weight (r = 0.752), height (r = 0.638), and age (r = 0.669). The knowledge test scores of BLS in all school ages significantly improved after BLS training. There were no significant correlations between the depth of chest compression and children's academic results, physical ability, and upper body muscle strength. Conclusions: School-age children could not implement BLS sufficiently on adult manikins. However, teaching BLS improves children's understanding of BLS and emergency protocols, and helps children even in lower school grades to raise their health literacy in the community. Age-appropriate BLS courses for school children is worth being introduced.